Notater 1913 - 1914

This notebook page, by J.A. Jerichau (II), shows writing in a dark ink on a creamy, off-white page. It looks like the ink has bled slightly into the paper. You can see faint stains and marks, the ghosts of past thoughts and actions. I bet Jerichau was thinking through some ideas, maybe for a painting or just trying to get something off their mind. It’s a raw, unfiltered expression, like automatic writing. The looping script makes me feel like the artist was in a hurry, or in a state of flow. I know that feeling. You don’t want to stop in case you lose the thread. The physicality of the ink on the page is important. It reminds me that painting and writing are both about making marks, leaving traces of your presence in the world. It's all connected, this conversation between artists across time. We're all just trying to figure things out, one mark at a time.